Sunday, March 1, 2015

Rock and roll has been around since
the 1950’s and eventually achieved legitimacy to the point that The Beatles
success inspired an entire generation of kids to pick up a guitar, but that
never stopped critics from trying to tear it down...or for that matter, for
rock stars to become too full of themselves.Our quiz this time is to see if you can tell who made a specific
statement about music, or life, or rock and roll.

Well ‘it’s one for the money, two for
the show, three to get ready, now go cat go...”

QUESTIONS

1.Who said
this:“Rock and roll is sung, and
written for the most part, by cretinous goons, and by means of its almost
imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd – in plain fact, dirty – lyrics, it
manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent”?

Was
it a. Bishop Fulton J. Sheenb. Richard
Nixonc. Frank Sinatra

2.What early Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame inductee made the following statement: “I never
considered myself part of rock’n’roll.I
didn’t believe that I was among the forerunners of the music and I’ve never
given myself a lick of credit for either inventing it or having anything to do
with its birth.”? Was it:Chuck
Berryb. Ray Charlesc. Bill Haley

3.Which musical
superstar who first hit the charts in the 1970’s as the lead singer of a
British group, before successfully going solo a few years later said this:
“When you’re as rich as I am, you don’t have to be political.”?Was it: a. Sting (The Police)b. Freddie Mercury (Queen) c. Rod Stewart
(The Faces)

4.The following
statement was made by a member of one of the most successful musical groups in
history: “People have come to us and said, ‘Do you realize how much power you
have now?You could change the world
with some of the things you say’.And I
say to them, ‘Leave me alone’.Power is
fleeting.So is ego.Politicians have no idea how to save the
world, so why should pop stars?”Is it:
a. Keith Richards of The Rolling Stonesb. Barry Gibb of The Bee Geesc.
Glenn Frey of The Eagles

5.Which Canadian
born singer/songwriter made this statement: “If some people had their way,
they’d just want me to weep and suffer for them for the rest of my life, because
people live vicariously through their artists.”Is it:a. Sarah Mclachlanb.Diana Krallc. Joni Mitchell

ANSWERS

1.That would be c. Frank Sinatra who, on July 2nd,
1966, knocked The Beatles “Paperback Writer” from the # 1 spot on Billboards’
Hot 100 chart with his song “Strangers In The Night”.Frank’s # 1 ride only lasted one week as The
Beatles got their revenge and returned to the top of the singles charts the following
week (July 9th).In April of
1967, Frank and daughter Nancy’s duet “Something Stupid” replaced The Turtles
“Happy Together” at # 1.That song hung
onto the top spot for 4 consecutive weeks and was finally knocked off the week
of May 13, 1967 by The Supremes “The Happening”. So, start spreading the news, that was Frank’s
last # 1.

2. If you picked b.Ray Charles, you
would be correct.Throughout his career,
Ray sang everything, rock’n’roll, blues, R&B and country.He charted 77 songs on Billboards’ Hot 100
chart and just as many of their R&B chart.Ray had three # 1 hits, “Georgia On My Mind” in 1960, ‘61’s “Hit The
Road Jack” and 1962’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You”.Ray Charles was one of the first inductees in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 1986.In April of 1979, Ray’s version of “Georgia
On My Mind” was proclaimed the official state song by the Georgia legislature.Ray Charles passed away on June 10, 2004 at
the age of 73.

3. a.
Sting said it.Sting, whose real
name is Gordon Sumner, was the lead singer of The Police, with Andy Summers and
Stewart Copeland.The Police first hit
the North American singles chart in 1979 with “Roxanne”.Their only # 1 was 1983’s “Every Breath You
Take”.Stings’ first solo hit came in
1985 with “If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free” which climbed to # 3.Stings’ only solo # 1 was “All For Love”
(from the motion picture “The Three Musketeers”) in 1994, which was a
collaboration with Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams.

4.The correct answer is b. Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees.The brothers Gibb have sold more than 200 million albums during their
career and had three straight # 1 albums in a row starting with the soundtrack
to “Saturday Night Fever” in 1978, which was the # 1 album for 24 weeks.That was followed by “Spirits Having Flown”
in ’79, then in 1980 with “Bee Gees Greatest”.They also charted nine # 1 hit singles, starting with “How Can You Mend
A Broken Heart” in 1971 and ending with “Love You Inside And Out” in ’79.The Bee Gees entered the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 1997.Barry Gibb is the last
remaining Gibb brother.Andy died in
March 1988 (he was only 30), Maurice died in January 2003 at the age of 53 and
Robin passed away at age 62 in May 2012.

5.It was c. Joni Mitchell whomade
that statement.Mitchell was born in
Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan.She
was writing poetry in school and started out as a folk singer, playing clubs in
Western Canada and then Toronto before moving to Los Angeles where she was
signed by Reprise Records (the same label as Neil Young, Frank Sinatra, Sammy
Davis Jr. and Dean Martin).At Reprise,
Joni recorded such influential albums as “Clouds”, “Ladies of the Canyon” and
“Blue”. “Joni later moved over to Asylum
Records where her success grew with albums such as “Court And Spark”, “Miles of
Aisles” and “The Hissing of Summer Lawns”.Joni was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and although
she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, she did not
attend the ceremony.Joni received a
‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the Grammy Awards in 2002 for being “one of
the most important female recording artists of the rock era.”

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Throughout Hollywood’s rich history,
only slightly more than a handful of Canadians have won Academy Awards. The National Film Board has won a bunch of
times for their marvellous documentaries, but our quiz this time is about
Canadians (most of whom no longer live in the Great White North) who’ve taken
home an Oscar statue.

Mary Pickford (who’s real name is
Gladys Louise Smith and whose home stood on what is now the Hospital For Sick
Children on University Avenue in Toronto) won the Academy Award in 1928/19 for
her work in the motion picture “Coquette”.The award ceremony was held in April of 1930.That same year, in November, Montreal born Norma
Shearer, won the ‘Best Actress In A Leading Role’Oscar for her work in the film “The Divorcee”.The Oscars and Canada have a long tradition.It’s not just a very large tradition.

So wrap yourself up in the Canadian flag
(which incidentally is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year)
and have a great time with this quiz, eh?

QUESTIONS

1.This Hollywood character
actor was born in Toronto on April 5, 1883 (which would mean that he’s definitely
passed on).He made his Broadway debut
in 1924 and in 1929 moved to Hollywood where he worked on movies such as “The
Virginian” with Gary Cooper (1929), the title role in “Abraham Lincoln” (1930),
“The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1941) and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” with Jimmy
Cagney. The motion picture that won
Walter his Oscar in 1948, co-starred Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt and was about
the adventures of three men searching for gold in the hills of Mexico.This movie was directed by Walter’s son John.His last name is the same as a major Texas city
(although it’s spelled slightly differently).Who is he?

2.His role of
Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” may be this Oscar winning actor’s most
famous role in a motion picture, although many fans still remember him as
Klingon General Chang in 1991’s “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”.He won the Oscar in 2011 for a movie that
also starred Ewan McGregor.He was born
in Toronto, but spent a lot of time in England, which may account for his
slight British accent.He’s equally at
home on the big screen or as a guest star on a television series.His daughter, Amanda is also an actress.His last name is the same as the professional
craftsman that you’d call if your sink or toilet didn’t work.Can you name this Academy Award winning
actor?

3.The director of
the biggest movie of 1996 was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario in 1954 and moved to
Hollywood in 1971.He’s a
writer/producer/director and inventor.Some
of the movies he’s directed are: “Aliens”, “The Terminator”, “Terminator 2:
Judgment Day”, “The Abyss” and “Avatar”.He’s won three Academy Awards, all for the same movie about a ship on
its maiden voyage in 1912 that hits an iceberg and sinks.What’s this famous Canadian’s name?

5.This Canadian born
actress, who moved to New Zealand at an early age, was the youngest ever (age
11) Academy Award winner in 1994.The
movie she won for was “The Prize”.It
was her first film.She co-starred in
the “X-Men” movie series as well as the TV series “True Blood”.Who is this delightful actress?

ANSWERS

1.It was Walter Huston, writer/director John Huston’s
father and Anjelica Huston’s granddad who won the ‘Best Actor In A Supporting
Role’ Academy Award in 1948 for “The Treasure of The Sierra Madre” with
Humphrey Bogart.Walter had been nominated
in the same category in 1943 for “Yankee Doodle Dandy” with Jimmy Cagney.He also won a Golden Globe in ‘48 for “The
Treasure of The Sierra Madre”, which was directed by his son John Huston, who won
two Oscar’s that year for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Writer, Screenplay’, thus
making Walter and John the first father/son combination to win Academy Awards
in the same year.Walter’s granddaughter
Anjelica, won her Academy Award in 1986 for the film “Prizzi’s Honor“, which
was also directed by her father John.Walter Huston’s final film was “The Furies” with Wendell Corey and
Barbara Stanwyck in 1950.He died on
April 7th that year.

2. Christopher
Plummer won the 2011 Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for the
movie “Beginners”.I’m not sure this is
a distinction, but Mr. Plummer was the oldest actor to ever win an Academy
Award (at least to date, we’re all getting up there after all).He’s the great grandson of Canadian Prime
Minister John Abbott, who served from 1891 to 1892.Christopher has three movies scheduled for
release in 2015, “Danny Collins”, “Pixies” (voice only) and “Remember”.

3. James
Cameron, was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario in 1954.He’s created an amazing body of work in
Hollywood with such films as “Aliens”, “Avatar” and “The Terminator”, but it
was as Director of “Titanic” that he won the Oscar in 1998.In total that March night “Titanic” won 11
Oscar statues.Cameron is currently
working on “Avatar 2, 3 and 4” due out in 2017, 2018 and 2019
respectively.Two untitled “Terminator”
movies were recently announced.The
first is scheduled for 2017.Not sure if
James is writing, producing or directing or all three.Will Arnold be back?Stay tuned!

4.The correct answer is b. Denys Arcand.Denys studied
history at the Universite de Montreal.He
worked for the National Film Board (NFB) for many years.A feature length NFB documentary on the
textile industry was so controversial that it was withdrawn from circulation by
the NFB.His films had been nominated for
Academy Awards twice before, once in 1987 for “The Decline of The American
Empire” (which also won the prestigious Critics Prize at the Cannes Film
Festival) and again in 1990 for “Jesus of Montreal”, which won 10 Genie Awards
in Canada as well as the Jury prize at Cannes.Denys is a Companion of the Order of Canada as well as a star on
Canada’s Walk of Fame.

5.In 1994, Anna
Pacquin took home the Oscar Statue as ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for the 1993
movie “The Piano”.Anna was born in
Winnipeg on July 24th (my birthday as well) 1982.Her father is Canadian born and raised, her
mother was originally from New Zealand, which is where the family moved when
Anna was 4 years old.Anna is famous
around the world for playing mutant superheroine Rogue in the “X-Men” series of
films.In 2008, she was cast as waitress
Sookie Stackhouse in the TV series “True Blood” (although she shot the pilot in
2007).On the set, Anna met (and later
married) her “True Blood” co-star (and now husband), Stephen Moyer.The couple has two children

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Well, it’s February and one Canadian groundhog
didn’t see his shadow, which is good for a short winter.Two others saw their shadows...which is bad
for a long winter.Which groundhog will
be correct?We shall see.Of course February also means that it’s time
for the annual Grammy Awards.So, just
for fun and because we have to have 5 new questions anyway, it’s Grammy quiz
time.

Anyone remember what won the 2014 ‘Song
of the Year’ Grammy?Anyone?Bueller?Bueller?How about ‘Album of the
Year’?Hmmm?I didn’t either actually until I looked it
up.The 2014 ‘Song of the Year’ Grammy (it’s
a songwriters award) went to “Royals”, written by Lorde and Joel Little.The Grammy for “Album of the Year” was won by
Pharrell Williams for “Random Access Memories”.If you knew either or both of those questions. then let’s see how you do
with this quiz, smartypants.Seriously,
good luck – these questions are kind of tough. But no more so than usual.No hints this time around though.Alright, maybe one or two, but that’s it!

QUESTIONS

1.The 53rd
annual Grammy Awards were held on February 11th, 2011.Two Canadians were nominated in the ‘Best New
Artist’ category along with Mumford & Sons, Florence + The Machine and the
winner, Esperanza Spalding.Although
neither won this particular Grammy, both Canadians HAVE won JUNO Awards before.In fact, one of them won the ‘Fan Choice
Award’ for the past 4 years in a row, yet is not even nominated in that category
this year.Can you name this Canadian
entertainer who constantly seems to be getting himself into trouble?

2.At the 40th
annual Grammy Awards ceremony in New York on February 25, 1998,one performer won the Grammy for ‘Best Dance
Recording’ as well as ‘Best Pop Album’.From
1984 until the end of 2000, she scored 12 # 1 hits on the U.S. record
charts.She’s a successful singer,
songwriter, author, actress and business woman who goes by only one name, even
though she has several.She is one of
the richest and most powerful women in the entertainment industry.Can you name her?

3.The Shrine
Auditorium in Los Angeles was the setting for the 25th annual Grammy
Awards on February 23, 1983.The group
that won ‘Record of the Year’ also won ‘Album of the Year’.The ‘Record of the Year’ was a girls’ first
name.She had dated one of the members
of this group.She comes from an acting
family, but that’s enough about “Rosanna”, what’s the name of the group that
won ‘Record’ and ‘Album of the Year’ and has absolutely no connection to “The Wizard
of Oz” except for borrowing the name of Dorothy’s little dog.

4.The artist who won
the Grammy Award for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’ at the 34th
annual Grammy Award on February 8th, 1991 in Los Angeles, had
re-recorded a # 1 hit from 1966 for Percy Sledge.The new version also went to # 1.It was this performer’s second and final # 1
(at least so far).Although he was an successful
songwriter, several of his hits came by re-recording previous hits, including
Otis Reddings’ “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in 1988; the 1960 Ray Charles
# 1 “Georgia On My Mind” in ‘90 and The Bee Gees 1967 Top Twenty hit, “To Love
Somebody” in ‘92.For many years, he had
huge hair, but later cut it.Who is this
superstar hitmaker?

5. We’re going back
to 1969 for this Grammy Award winner.This highly successful composer, conductor and arranger has been
nominated for an amazing 72 Grammy Awards.He’s won 20, plus a Golden Globe and 4 Academy Awards.His fame came mainly from writing songs for,
and scoring motion pictures.He wrote
the theme from “The Pink Panther” (Ba dum ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba
dum, ba dum, baaaa daaaaa, ba da da da dum), which on the record charts in
1964, climbed only as high as # 31.This
hit went all the way to # 1 and was the love theme from the 1968 motion
picture, “Romeo & Juliet”.I gave
you the title of the song.Can you give
me the name of the man who had the # 1 instrumental hit with it in ‘69?

ANSWERS

1.Yes of course, it’s
the Biebs, Justin Bieber.As any true Belieber knows, Justin was
discovered in 2007 via You Tube videos.The man who discovered him, Scotter Braun, teamed him with Usher and the
rest is on a police blotter.OK, to be
fair, Justin has seen more than his share of trouble in the past few years, but
his latest video says he’s trying to clean up his act.Time will tell.Meantime, the kid from Stratford, Ontario has
sold in the millions and debuted 4 albums at # 1.In 2011 and 2012, Forbes Magazine ranked the
Biebs as # 3 of “the top ten most powerful celebrities in the world”.By 2013, he’d dropped down to 9th
place.By the way, Drake was the other
Canadian performer nominated for a ‘Best New Artist’ Grammy Award.

2. Madonna
Louise Ciccone is the correct answer, but if you just said Madonna, that’s cool
too.Madge’s ‘Best Dance Recording’ and
‘Best Pop Album’ Grammies were for “Ray of Light”.‘Ray of Light’ also won a Grammy that year
for ‘Best Short Form Music Video’.Thus
far, Madonna has sold more than 300 million records and The Guinness Book of World
Records organization recognized her as ‘best selling female recording artist of
all time’.If it’s good enough for the Guinness
folks, then it’s certainly good enough for me.

3. “Toto
IV” is the name of the album, therefore the name of the group has to be Toto.Members of Toto include or have included David Paich, Steve, Mike and
Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams, Keith Carlock, Bobby Kimball,
David Hungate, Simon Phillips, Fergie Frederiksen, Jean-Michel Byron and Greg
Phillinganes.Toto’s biggest hits are
“Hold The Line”, “Africa” and “Rsoanna”, written about actress Rosanna
Arquette, whom co-starred in the movie “Desperately Seeking Susan” with
Madonna.Several of the members of Toto
were studio musicians, playing on albums by Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, Sony &
Cher and Seals & Crofts among others.They finally decided to form their own group and the rest, as ‘they’ say
(whoever ‘they’ are) is history.

4.Michael
Bolton is the man with the big hair.“When A Man Loves A Woman” is the big hit song.Born in New Haven, Connecticut, his real name
is Michael Bolotin, but he dropped the middle ‘o’ and became a huge international
success.Mike (he hates when I call him
Mike) started out in hard rock bands for a while, was the lead singer for the
band Blackjack, but he eventually turned to ballads and made a fortune.He’s sold over 75 million records and
recorded eight Top Ten albums.His two #
1 hits on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart, 1990’s “How Am I Supposed To Live Without
You” and 1991’s “When A Man Loves A Woman” both won Michael the Grammy for
‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’.

5.In 1969, Henry
Mancini took home the ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement’ Grammy statue for
“Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet”.It
was his only # 1 hit single in a career that spanned five decades.Henry Mancini passed away in June of 1994 at
the age of 70.A year after his death,
he was posthumously honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.His first charted hit single came in 1960
with “Mr. Lucky’, the theme from the TV series.It made it to # 21.Henry did
better in 1961 with “Moon River”, a song from the film, “Breakfast At
Tiffany’s” that went to # 11 on the Hot 100 pop singles chart, # 1 on the Adult
Contemporary chart and won a Grammy Award for ‘Song of the Year’ the following
year.